I recently read this great and hilarious book that’s super important for anyone who wants to become a success down the road. It covers a lot of vital aspects such as the narrative of selling and believing in what you’re selling. Here are my notes on it!
It's serious business to be funny. It's really hard. And writing humor is harder than talking because you don't get to use gestures, facial expressions, props, or benefit from peer pressure on the group of the first few who laugh.
But it’s important to remember that people will always buy more when they’re in a much better mood and they will be in this if you make them laugh.
People are buying things on the basis of who they like best, instead of who has the best deal. And their attention span is getting shorter as the mind is turned into mush by constant, multi-source, and multi-sensory stimulation.
The truth is, people are going to give more minutes of attention to something they find entertaining and amusing than anything serious. Like it or not, you're in show biz and selling is a big part of it.
The Essence of Humor
- So let’s talk humor. What exactly will make people laugh?
- Stupidity is key. People laugh when they see other people doing stupid things and that’s a fact.
- Rants are also comedy gold. You can complain about normal life experiences with a bit of agitation thrown in and people will keep laughing themselves silly!
- Shared experiences that are sad and also funny. You can discuss anything from how your grandma died or your dog bit you and if you make it funny, people will laugh.
If you’re looking for humorous techniques to use, there are also a bunch. You can use dark humor, analogies, metaphors, twisted jokes, random one-liners or even question and answer jokes. As long as you say them with confidence, your jokes will garner a proper audience.
However, stay away from obviously problematic topics such as religion, politics, or other sensitive material that can actually offend people.
If you need to attack someone or something, the best way to do that is with humor. And if there's nothing you can find to attack, look harder. Your customers have a lot of people and things they fear or oppose or hate. And you can always humorously jab your non-buyers, making the ones on the fence choose a side.
When it comes to selling, pull out all the stops. Use amusing testimonials, both positive and negative. Never miss a chance to build or retain interest.
Tell amusing things to the crowd in funny ways that were primed for laughter. That last part is very important. So set your expectations and know what you’re selling and to whom.
Don't sell what’s not yours. Sooner or later, someone's going to find the source and you're going to lose credibility and potentially sales too. You can even be sued for misuse of copyright or trademark, or even intentional theft, to generate confusion in the marketplace for commercial advantage.
When it’s all said and done, will you be able to master comedy? Yeah! Just don't foolishly underestimate the difficulty level. It's going to take years, maybe decades of practice. If you're not up to the challenge, just go for “decent” which still pays well. I can testify to this.
However, if you do learn to sell with humor, you will sell a lot. So be prepared to see your sales numbers soar!
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